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Nigerian Football

ROAD TO KATSINA 2018: FIRST TIME A NIGERIAN FA BOSS RESIGNS

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

 

Louis Edet, Nigeria’s first indigenous Inspector General of Police who was also the first appointed helmsman of the Nigeria football governing body in 1962 is also on record as the first one to resign from the position. Others before him came through electoral process.

The new NFA boss, Edet, probed his predecessor, Francis Sodolamu Ogunmuyiwa and claimed that there were evidences of money spent without proper accounting.

Further anomalies were pointed out. No system of control was put up over printing, distribution and sale of tickets.

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The audited report showed an expenditure of £18,417 not supported by documents. But the sports minister insisted that there was nothing criminal in the action, hence there was no prosecution.

A major legacy Edet’s committee left for future NFA was the acquisition of two Lagos Executive Development Board, (LEDB) buildings at Ogunlana Drive, Surulere.

It initially served as hostel and in later years, the secretariat of the NFA. Since the late 1990s when the seat of the football governing body moved to Abuja, the Ogunlana Drive buildings became the Lagos liaison office of the NFF.

The purchase of the two blocks was initiated by Alex Oni’s dissolved Lagos Amateur Football Association (LAFA) which in 1961 deposited £1,348 for the property.

The arrangement failed because the conveyance of the property was not available. The NFA then got into the deal.

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Edet’s tenure did not last long. He resigned after 16 months in 1962. He pointed out that his team faced serious problems within the secretariat, where information and records were scanty. Mustapha Adewale, the vice chairman succeeded him.

Francis Sodolamu Ogunmuyiwa in 1962 became the first NFA Chairman to be sacked.

   He headed the NFA for just two months. A significant point of the administration was when the trio of Adewale, Oyo Orok Oyo, an administrative assistant and Luke Emejulu the secretary convinced the Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, to donate a trophy for an annual contest between Nigeria and Guinea.

The competition took off in January 1964 and was played on home and away basis at irregular interval till early 1970s.

Mustapha Adewale handed over the NFA administration to Alfred Osula and announced the transfer of NFA to the National Sports Council (NSC), the fore-runner of the National Sports Commission.

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By then, other sports associations, notably athletics and table tennis had been under the direct supervision of the NSC. Mustapha Adewale resigned as he had to leave for U.K. on secondment as Nigeria’s permanent representative on Commonwealth Telecommunication Board.

Alfred Osula who later became the Deputy Managing Director of Daily Times succeeded Adewale. Till 2015, his tenure remained the shortest ever. He administered the NFA for just 21 days.

 

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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